Car-fender.



.No. 738,647. I PATENTED SEPT. 8.1903.

. JLA. WILLIAMS & L. B. BRITTON.

GA-R FENDER. APPLICATION rum) APR. 29, 1903. no MODEL. 2 sums-sum 1.

m: "cams FEIERS c0u mom-urns; wnsnmamu. u. u.-

' PATENTBD SEPT. s, 1903. No. 733,647. 3. A. WILLIAMS & L. B. BRITTON.

Q GARFENDBRF APPLICATION nun APR. 29. 1003. no MODEL.

r we THE Norm-s PETERS c0, PHOTO-LITHQ. wnumcn'ow ii UNITED" T PatentedSeptember 8, 1903.

PATENT O FICE.

JOHN Ann-User; ,WILLIAMS AND L "STER BgBRIlTON, OF SEATTLE,

" S ING ON. f

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters ,Pat ent No, 7 38,64 =7, datedSeptember 8, 1903. Application filed April zej eos. smart. 154,846. onmodel.)

ToaZZ whontiit Be it known that'we; JOHNAUDUBO WIL.

, LIAMS and LESTER B. BRITTON, citizens of the United States, andresidents of Seattle, in the county of King and State of Washingtomhaveinvented a new and'Improved Car-Fender, of which the following is afull, clear, and exact description; o a n This invention relates tosafety-fenders for cars and other vehicles; and it consists,substantially, in the construction, organization, and combinations of.parts hereinafter particularly described and claimed.

The invention has for its principal object to provide a safety-fenderfor cars and similar vehicles which is automatic in operation, besidesbeing inexpensive to manufacture, as well as durable, and (comprisingcomparatively few elements or partswhich are .simple in their embodimentand not, liable to get out of order. a r

A further object of the invention is to provide a device of thecharacter. referred to which is thoroughly effective and reliable inuseand one also which in operation readily conforms to inequalities ofgradetraversed by the vehicle without necessitating lifting of thestructure or other manipulation thereof on the part of the operatordirectingthe movements of the vehicle. l

The above and additional objects are attained by means substantially asare illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which similarcharacters ofreferenceindicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure l is a view in, perspective of a portion of a car or othervehicle having our improved fender embodied in connection therewith.Fig. 2 is an enlargedlongitudinal sectional View in detail, showing indotted lines the manner of operation of our improved carfender onencountering an object in the path of travel of the car and also showingin further dotted lines the manner in which the basket or scoop may beturned upout of the way for any purpose desired. Fig. 3 is an enlargedfront elevation (the basket or scoop being elevated or raised) of ourimproved car-fender,the same indicating the construction andorganization of the several cooperative elements or parts thereof moreclearly; and Fig. 4 is a bottom plan viewofthefender withtthe basket orscoop in its lowered or operative position.

Beforeproceeding with a more detailed description it may be stated thatin the embodiment of our invention herein shown we em ploy a basket orscoop of any desired construction which is movably suspended in positionat the end of the car or other vehicle,

which the car may be propelled, said basket or scoop being capable ofindependent movement on its supports, by which the same may be turnedupwardly and out of the way against the dashboard of the car, as willhereinafter more fully appear. The construction and organization of. theoperative parts of our device are such that they may be easily andquickly applied in position or removed, and while we have hereinrepresented a certain preferred embodiment of these parts we do not Wishto be understood as limitingourselves to theprecise details thereof inpractice, since immaterial changes therein. may be resorted to comingwithin the scope of our invention.

Specificreference being had to the drawings by. the designatingcharacters marked thereon, 1 represents the platform of an ordinary caror similar vehicle, and 2 the dashboard thereof an ordinarycoupling-head 3 being also shown, by which connection may bemadewithanother car similarly provided. Mounted in suitable bearings or hangers,4 at therefor, secured at 5 5 on the under side of said platform 1, atthe forward edge thereof, is a fixed rod 6, and loosely fitting uponsaid rod a short distance within each of the said bearings or hangers 44.- is a collar or ring 7, said collars being rigid with the inwardlyand upwardly curved ends 8 of the parallel side bars or members 9 ofthebasket or scoop 10 of the fender, which basket is preferably made up ofwire-cloth, although it is evident that the same may be constituted ofcanvas or other suitable flexible material. The lower forward ends ofthe side bars are connected by a rigid bar 11, to which also the loweredge of the basket or scoop is attached in any suitable way, it beingunderstood, of course, that the upper edge of the basket is attached inlike manner to the rod 6, while the side edges thereof are attached tothe side bars 9 also in any suitable way. Also fitting upon the rod 6,near each end thereof, and on opposite sides of each of the movablecollars or rings 7 thereon are a pair of sleeves 12 and 13, each of thelatter, 13, being somewhat the longer of the two, and to each of thesaid sleeves 12 is rigidly connected the end of an arm 14 of a curvedabutment 15, the end of the other arm 16 of which is similarly connectedto the adjacent sleeve 13. (See Figs. 3 and'.) To each of said sleeves13 is also rigidly fastened or connected the upper end of a member 17,which extends somewhat below its corresponding abutment 15 and isbent'inwardly and rearwardly at 18 and 18; the inner end thereof beingprovided with a weight 19, as shown.

These latterly-described devices operate to counterbalance the weight ofthe basket'or scoop structure in a manner to normally maintain theforward cross-bar 11 thereof a short distance above the ground or tracklevel, (see full lines, Fig. 2,) and the said members 17 of said sets ofcounterbalance devices each works in a guide 20 therefor, secured to theunder side of the platform 1, the lower portion 21 of such guide servingto limit the downward movement of the member and its weight, thus toprevent the forward end of the basket or scoop from being elevated toohigh and also preventing said member and weight from being carried tooclose to the ground-surface.

. From the foregoing it will be seen that whenever the lower forwardedge of the basket or scoop encounters an object in the path of travelof the car the said edge will be depressed or forced downwardly by theresistence ofiered by the object and the said object will be caused totilt into the basket and be picked up thereby, due to the movement ofthe traveling car, on which the entire device is mounted. During suchaction the operative elements of the device will be carried to thepositions indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 2 but as soon as the objectmay be lifted out or removed from the basket the counterbala-ncingdevices for the latter immediately restore the said elements to normalposition automatically, no part of the operation in eitherinstance beingrequired to be performed by the motorman or other operator. It will beseen also that whenever inclines or uneven surfaces are traversed by thecar and the fender the said basket or scoop will freely yield upwardlyin accordance therewith, and in this way the scoop is not liable to bedoubled up' or crushed, such as might happen were it not for theindependent Vertical movement which the basket has relatively to theother parts of the structure. By virtue of such construction also thebasket may be raised up out of the way when desired, and we may also insome instances cut out a section of said basket to enable the couplingof two cars through the-opening thus formed while the basket is in itsupwardly-folded position. (Indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 2.)

In order that a person or animal struck by the fender may not be injuredby the force of contact thereof, we preferably provide the lower forwardedge of the fender with a yieldable buffer device or cushion all the wayacross the same, consisting in the present instance of a hollow tubularstructure 22,which is practically skeleton like and comprisesring-sections 23, separated by spaces 24: and connected longitudinallyby strips 25, the endmost ones of said ring-sections being attached orsecured at 26 to the side bars 9 of the hasket. Said sections 23amseparated longitudinally of the bar 11, and one of the curvedextremities thereof is turned within the other at 27, so that when theforward surface of the bufier device or cushion encounters an object thetendency of said device will be to coil or roll up lengthwise, thusserving to yield, as is apparent, whereupon the ring-like sections willbe again restored to their original positions of their own elasticity orresiliency as soon as pressure thereon is removed, it being mentionedthat the said device 22 is preferably formed of spring-steel or othersuitable material for the purpose. Instead of the specially-constructedbuffer device herein shown and described we may adopt other forms, as isapparent, without departing from the spirit or scope'of our. invention.

Having thus described our invention, we claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent-- 1. A car-fender, comprising asuitably-supported depressible scoop, constructed at the forward edgethereof with a tubular bufier device, divided longitudinally, and havingone edge turned Within the other, and means for normally maintainingsaid device above the track-level.

2. A car-fender, comprising a suitably-supported depressible scoop,constructed at the forward edge thereof with a tubular buffer device,divided longitudinally, and having one edge turned within the other, andmeans for normally maintaining said device above the track-level, saidmeans being constituted in part of an abutment for the scoop.

3. A car-fender, provided at the forward edge thereof with a bufferdevice, comprising a tubular structure divided longitudinally and havingone edge turned within the other.

4. A car-fender provided at the forward edge thereof with a bufierdevice, comprising substantially ring-sections connected by longitudinalstrips, and divided on coincident lines parallel with said strips, oneof the extremities of such rings being turned within and lapped by theother.

5. A car-fender comprising a fixed rod, a basket with side barshaving'their inner ends movably mounted on said rod, a pair of sleevesat each end of the rod, one on either side of the corresponding sidebar, an abut- 1 ment connecting the sleeves of each pair, an inwardlyand rearwardly extending member names to this specificationin thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOHN AUDUBON WILLIAMS from one sleeve of each pair, provided with a ILESTER B. BRITTON.

3 weight, and a guide for each of said members, limiting the downwardmovement thereof.-

In testimony whereof we have signed our Witnesses: O. J .,RILEY,

CHAS. F. BAILEY.

